And while some may think that
too much is made of the church there, no, not at all. When he talked about, to her,
my hairs and toils be given, Christ said, What you do unto
the least of thee, my brethren, you unto me. Our God is in heaven. We're on the earth, his body
on the earth, the heads in the heavens, his bodies upon the
earth. How we serve him, serve his body. So that's a very good hymn. And I love, don't you love God's
church? He that loveth him that begat,
loveth him that is begotten. So it's all very good. That's what this song is about.
Psalm 84 partly what it's about partly. Psalm 84 let me give
you a little footnote here you notice underneath the title or
underneath the number is a title Psalm 84 says to the chief musician. Psalm for the sons of Korah upon
Gidduth the chief musician. Psalm the word Psalm means poetry
set to music all of these Psalms were verses as you see it always
set to music every one of them had music set to them David was
a psalmist he played a harp guitar whatever and he sung these songs
which he wrote and others wrote Moses wrote I don't know who
played if he played the harp but Moses wrote some songs song
of Moses song and it's upon get up That is a Gittite harp, a
harp made in the Gittites, Gath, where David was. Perhaps he was
down there to find out where the best harps were. If you're
listening, if you ran on that, David went to Gath and apparently
he came out of there with the best harps made by man. A Gittite
harp. It was for the sons of Korah.
Korah, not the one you're thinking of in numbers or that his sons
were such rebellious men against Moses, but these were Levites. There are many men, Levites,
down through the years named Korah, like Judas. There are
many Judases in Scripture. But there were other Korahs,
and they themselves were Levites under David's reign. And they
were priests, that is. And they were appointed singers. That's what they did. That was
their job. They led the singing. These sons of Cora. So this was
a psalm written, played upon a Gittite harp. And it was for
these psalm leaders. He said, David said, I want us
to be singing this. So you see, and that's what we're
going to do, Lord willing, right now is sing this psalm. I'm going
to lead it. Psalm 84. That's what that little
footnote. Now, the what made me deal with
this, if you're interested, is the verse six talks about the
Valley of Bacchus. Some of you had that little devotional
written by Brother J.C. Kilpatrick. Very good. Very good.
One of the best I know of. If not the best. And that's the
title. And I wondered why he wrote that
and why he gave it that title. And I looked up his throughout
to see. I knew it was this psalm and
went over and started reading this psalm again. Came to that
verse. I never really, really knew what
the full meaning of that is. Bally and Baca make it well.
And Brother Philpott really did help me out in June something.
He gives three or four days' worth of just two verses. Anyway,
it was a real blessing to me, and I believe it will be to you. Every verse is a blessing. Verse
1, he says, David, under inspiration, How amiable, how lovely are thy
tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. How lovely are thy tabernacles,
plural. Now, God's tabernacle is one,
right? God had one. At this time, there
was no temple. It was the tabernacle, the tent.
But even that was made up of three courts. You remember? Outer
court, inner court, Holy of Holies. These three, though, all three
are one. We call all of those courts and
all those rooms tabernacles in themselves, where You know, on
the outside, the common priest dwelt, on the inside, the high
priest, on the holy of holies, the holy one himself dwelt, right? But these three are one, thy
tabernacles. David was in and around all of
that. Remember, David went in the tabernacle to eat that bread.
And he said, oh, how lovely. I love everything about all three
of these tabernacles. I love them. How lovely are thy
tabernacles. And what does this speak of?
What is the tabernacle in whom we live and move and have our
being? The tabernacle being a dwelling place. Our God. Listen, O Israel,
our God is one. But these three persons in the
Godhead, right? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. These
three are one. And they tabernacle among us
somehow. And yet, all the fullness of the Godhead is in one body. The only God that you and I will
ever see is the only tabernacle that God Almighty made, the image
of God. The only image God ever entered
into was His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see God
someday, Barbara, whom no man has seen nor can see. We're going
to see Him. How's that? Christ. God was manifest in the flesh.
And like old Thomas said, my Lord and my God, we're going to say the same thing
when we see him, when we touch him. We're going to touch him,
we're going to handle him, God. The unseen, God. God whose spirit
is in a body. Aren't you glad? We're going
to have a body forever. And bodies need something to
hug up to. No. Eyes need something to see
and bless the Lord he assumed a body. Tabernacle of God is
also the church. Where God dwells. Our Lord said
where two or three are gathered. That's where I am. The body of
Christ. The dwelling place. The local
church. Now it's one. The church of God is one. Church
of God. The old writers talked about
the church invisible. That's those who have gone on
before us. That's the church. The church is meeting right now.
The church is meeting right now in heaven, in glory. There's
a church. And lots of members from this
local church are there now doing the same thing you're doing here,
except more perfectly. Well, not more, perfect. Doing the same thing, exact same
thing we're doing, except perfect. And, uh, but yet this church
in heaven and on earth, and there are local assemblies everywhere,
tabernacles, and they're lovely places, aren't they? This one,
I think, well, it's awful lovely. I'm mighty partial to it, like
you are your children, aren't you? And I am too. Mighty partial. And, uh, but the churches are
lovely places, aren't they? Places like Crossville. Have
you ever visited there? Well, you ought to. You'd feel
right at home there, because that's your brethren. That's
your family. That's another tabernacle. And other places. Too many to
number. Well, he says, how lovely are
thy tabernacles, our triune God in Christ and God's Church. Oh, Lord of hosts. Lord of hosts. He says that over and over again.
Oh, Lord of hosts. Our God is one, but he has many
people as the sands of the sea. Someday it's going to be amazing to see
a people that no man can number out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue of heaven singing with one voice. That's all I can say about that.
Verse 2, so he says, My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for
the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cried out for the
living God. My soul longed, my heart's desire,
he said, my craving. Have you ever longed for something? Your flesh to your flesh just
craved it, cried out for it. That's what David says, thy courts,
the place of worship. He said, I crave it. Oh, there's
a man, I believe, who loves to hear the gospel. How about you? There's a man who really loves
the truth, loves to worship God. And he says, I'm going to faint,
even faint if I don't get there, if I don't go there. If I miss
it, I'm going to faint. I can't do without this. Anybody
know what he's talking about? I don't know if David, we don't
know if David was in exile at this time when he wrote this.
We don't know. Nobody knows for sure. Apparently he was away
and he longed to be back there. Didn't he? And he said, I can't
do it without the worship of my God. the courts of God, the
place where God is worshiped. And in effect, what he's saying
is my I crave God. So he said, my heart, my flesh
crieth out for the living God. Him, not talking about going
to church per se, but going where God is and where God's people
meet and where God has promised to gather with his people. That's
where God is. That's where Christ is. He's
known. God is in the assembly of the saints. Yes, he is. He
said his king on his holy hill of Zion, that's where Christ
is right in the middle of his people. And so David says, that's
where I want to be. That's who I want to see and
who I want to be with, who I want to worship. And that's who I
want to do it with. God and his people, I crave it. Can you say
that? Not perfectly, of course not.
But can you? There was a time when you and
I You're a believer. I'm a believer. I have no interest
whatsoever in being here. As a matter of fact, this is
the last thing I wanted to do, and the last place I wanted to
be, and the last people I wanted to be with. But now these are my companions. This is who I want to be with,
where I want to be, what I want to be doing, and you're my kind
of people now. You're my brethren. You're my
companion. I'm a companion of them that fear the day. How about
you? That's a good sign. Sound like a new creature to
me. My heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God. I'm going to faint if I don't
get there. He says, yea, this sparrow, verse 3, hath found
a house, a dwelling place, a little insignificant common house sparrow,
kind of like our sparrow. Well, I think they're pretty
much the same all over the world. Sparrow is a sparrow. And the
swallow, barn swallow, house swallow, a nest for herself. Sparrow, apparently, David, you
know, being in and around the tabernacle, saw birds making
their nests here and there, as birds are prone to do. Those
of you, well, we've all seen birds make nests in the strangest
places, haven't we? On a doorknob. And everywhere they nest. Listen to this. This is good. Apparently David saw these little
sparrows and swallows making their nests here and there on
the altars. And someone wrote this, and I
got this from one of the old writers, that an old tradition
in ancient countries was that if a bird built its nest in the
temple or sanctuary, They were not allowed to be driven away,
not allowed to, much less be killed. But if they had found
sanctuary, if they built a nest there, they truly had found a
secure and undisturbed abode. No one was to bother them. They'd
stay right there. Did you get that? A swallow? What do we need? Get rid of that
bird. Uh-uh. But there's a million more like
it. Yeah, but that bird is going to stay right here. Right here. And didn't our Lord
say, Him that cometh to me. Yeah, but I'm just an old common
citizen. Him. That's why He said that. Him
that cometh to me. All that the Father giveth me.
And there's not a sparrow that falls to the ground without his
heavenly Father. He knows them. He has your hair numbered. They're
old common barn-swallowed sparrows. He knows a million just like
them. But all that the Father giveth Christ shall come to Christ.
And what'll they do? They find a home. And they make
a nest. And our Lord said, I'll let no
wise catch the man. You stay right here. You've found
a sure abode. Now, no wise catch the man. And it says here that she found
these spare and a swallow have found a place where she may lay
her young. Have you had a heart and you
found a place. To bring up your. To lay them
right here. The restaurant you found for
yourself a nest. You found a place where you like
to nest, don't you? You ever seen an old brood hen?
Surely you've seen an old brood hen. We had one. We named it Gladys. Sorry, Gladys. But that was out of affection.
It wasn't named after you. I don't know where we came up
with that. Somebody said you don't eat something
you name. Anyway, we loved this old hen. And she just like any other hen
that we, we loved her. She was a brood hen. That's all
she did, was brood. She let's sit on eggs and she'd
get, I don't, we never saw her get up. You just rarely ever saw her
get up. She'd get in and she'd nestle down in there and there
if she wants to stay, buddy. And buddy, you remember Hannah?
He tried to get some eggs from Gladys. Tough old bird, like
Gladys. You know, she guarded, protected
those eggs, and she found a nest for herself where she'd lay her
young. This is where I'm going to stay.
Don't you come here, my young. Have you found a place, a nest
for yourself, and a place where you can bring your children And
you'll not have them go anywhere else or anybody else disturb
them. This is it. This is it. This is the truth.
This is where I'm going to raise my children. Right church. And from henceforth, let no man
bother me. I'm resting right here in Christ. This is the message. This is
the truth. This is God's church. And this
is where my children are going to hear it. And bless God. That's where I'm going to raise
them. Have you? Oh, my. My, my, oh, Lord, he
says, thine altar. Oh, Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Is this where you hear about
your King and your God? Is this King your King? This
God your God? This rock your rock? That you build your house on
and your whole family? Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house." Oh, how blessed! The word blessed
means just that. God has opened up the windows
of heaven and bestowed upon you all the goodness that is God,
the love, mercy, grace, and goodness that is of God, in God, from
God, It's been showered upon you if you have been brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the tabernacle of God, the house
of God, the sure abode, your hiding place, the cleft in the
rock. If you've been, if you're in Christ, oh, God has blessed
you. Flesh, flesh, and blood didn't
reveal it to you, but your Father, which is in heaven, has given
you a sure abode. A good hope, yes, a sure hope
through grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, you
really didn't find this place. He put you here. Birds, you know,
they fly out on an adventure, but it's, you know, the Lord
is sovereign over every bird and where it lands. Birds came to my house. Well, I told you about that one
that built a nest on the wall right out here. outside the study
door. And that ivy? You wonder why
some of you think I ought to tear all that ivy off. No, I'm
not going to do it. Because nearly every year there's
a bird that builds a nest in there. And I'm instructed to
leave it there. Anybody who finds a house here
has found a house. You're not going to disturb me.
All that the Father giveth Christ shall come to Christ, and shall
not be cast out. My King, my God, my gospel, my
people, my church, my salvation, my hope is defended against any and everything,
anybody and everything. Verse 4, he says, Blessed are
they that dwell in thy house in Christ and Christ Church,
they will be still praising you. You can read that two ways. They
will be still praising. That's a good way to put it in.
Our God said, and I said it, who I forgot to write it down.
He said their strength is to be still. You know what that means? It's
the same thing the Lord told the people through Moses back
there when they were standing up against that Red Sea and the
enemy was against them and they were heads bent on both sides,
under pressure, tribulation, stress, distress. Where do we
go? Where do we turn? God says, stand
still. You can't swim, you can't fight,
you can't scale. Stand still and see the salvation of God. You understand? Yes,
you've come here. You've tried to scale Mount Sinai.
You've tried to fight your sins. You can't swim to heaven. You
can't walk there. What are you going to do? Stand.
You've come to the right place. Here's your strength. Here's
your salvation. Here's your hope. Here's all your hope. Stand still. And just watch. See the salvation
of the Lord. Just watch. See the salvation
of the Lord. Look to Christ. The salvation
of the Lord. Stand still. Oh my, let's see, and just watch. Come here. This is a place where
the dead are brought to life. This is a place where the helpless
are given all grace. This is a place where death row
centers find full, free, eternal pardon. It's just where those
who are cripples and, you know, the palsy and blind, lame, deaf
and dumb, they come and what do they do? When it's all over, they see
the salvation. Stand still. And they will be still. Our God
said that. He commands that. But stand.
And he says, God is in heaven and you're on the earth. Let
your words be few. Be still and know that I'm God. Don't give the sacrifice of fools. by a multitude of words. Just
don't say anything. Just listen. He'll be still. He'll be still. Until they can't
be still any longer. Then they dance. You understand
that? Then they start dancing. He commands that, too. Well,
but read it this way. They will be still praising Him.
In other words, those that are brought there What they're doing
when they get there, what they find when they get there, is
worship, is praise, is salvation itself. They'll be praising God. They'll be praising God for such
salvation, so great salvation. They'll be praising God in the
beginning, the beginning of their confidence in, that all their
salvation is in Christ. And they praise Him for it. And
in the end, even in the end, when it's all said and done,
they'll be still praising Him. That's what they'll still be
doing. They'll still be singing the same old song. Same old,
same old. Yep, that's right. That's right. How firm a foundation. Huh? Come down out of everybody. Rock of ages cleft for me. How
firm. Huh? Now, we haven't learned
any new song. Once we've learned the song of
Moses, I just don't care to sing any other to you. You can have
all these new songs. They ain't got an ounce of gospel
in it. You can have They there in Zion know the song of Zion,
know the song of Moses, and that's what they sing. That good old
fella plucking that one string, remember? Anybody hadn't heard that? I
love it, I want to tell you. Just one nod. Hadn't heard that
one string. Margaret, I've told that 15 times. Oh, you're, you're, that's right.
Your age, you tend to forget things. I'll tell it again. I
thought you'd never ask. That fella would play in that,
you know, in that city in a band and start plucking that big bass
fiddle. Can you play? Yeah, I can play. He'd start
playing. He'd pluck in one string. Boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And they all stopped and said,
hold on here. Is that all you know? He said, well, you fellas
are running up and down the neck looking for this note. He said,
I found it. And that's so, that's true, that's
a good illustration in it. There are people running to and
fro and chasing after every wind of doctrine. I've found it! The
message, the power of God. This is, middle C, hit me to
the heart, buddy. This is the message that, this
is the sword of God, the spear of God that pierced the divineness
under my soul and spirit. This is the message that God
used to open my blind eyes, my deaf ears. This is the message.
And so now I know. This is the sword of God. This
is the message. It's the only one there is. And I'm just going
to sing it from here on out. Until somebody else, by God's
grace, by God's Spirit, somebody else hears it. You know, I went
a long time without singing this song. Went a long time without
it touching my old cold, dead, and hard heart. Long time. Didn't make, didn't touch me
in all that old fashion. I heard that before. No, I hadn't. I hadn't heard it before. Till
one day, Tammy, bless God, yes, bless God, I heard Rock of Ages
for the first time. Clever me. Let me hide myself in thee. And I never, I'd sung it, I was
forced to sing it as a child. Finally, I sung it. You know what I'm talking about. It's a good thing to give thanks.
It's a good thing that these children learn these songs. And
one day, the songs of Zion. It's not good that they learn
the speech of these million nights. No, it's not good at all. Nothing
good about it. I say unto them, save yourselves from much untoward.
Learn the songs of Zion. Keep singing them. Maybe someday
the Lord will give you a heart to sing it. That's what we're hoping for.
That's what I'm shooting for. Oh boy, they will be still praising
them. These songs that we learned here,
we're going to keep singing throughout eternity. They'll be still praising
them. Verse 5 says, Blessed is the
man whose strength is in thee, and whose hearts are the ways
of them. That is, those who dwell in God's
house. The man whose strength is in thee. You know, some rely
on their morality and their works and their goodness and their
religious life and their works of alms and piety and church
going and all that. Some do that, though, don't they?
Ignorantly. foolishly. Some rely on talent,
some rely on beauty, you know, humanly speaking. Some depend
on their self-made men and women, you know. They don't even need
religion. They can make it, they're going to make it, they're going
to be all right, self-made. They rely on their beauty and
talent and intellect, and all of that was given by the God
whom they don't worship. Yet they rely on that and think
it's going to carry them through. Boy, when it's all gone, what
are they going to rely on? Now, some depend on the government.
Boy, I don't know who'd want to do that. The government. And
some depend on science, you know. Their hope is in science. The
man's making great strides. He's going to get us out of this
mess. And some depend on education, you know. If I can just get smart
enough, I won't fall. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in thee. Blessed is the man who's all,
they find all their wisdom in him. All their righteousness
is in Him. Blessed is the man who finds
all their assurance, all that they know and are and can do
and will do and will be and all their salvation and all their
strength in Him. Blessed. Blessed. You know, everybody
is without strength. That which is flesh is flesh.
Flesh is so weak. Flesh is so prone to anything. Flesh will do anything. The greatest
of men and women will do anything. It's flesh. Flesh can't resist
nothing of its own. Weakness. Weak flesh. Oh, blessed are those who know
that, and don't depend on anything or anyone, flesh or anything
to do it, but the strength. The Lord God, the Lord Christ.
Here's a good illustration, a woman depends on her husband for everything.
She marries a man and she submits to him and depends upon him for
everything. He is her provider and protector. He's her strength. Then he dies. Then what? She's without strength. Well, listen, Psalm 54 says this,
thy maker is thy husband. Did you get that? Do you know
why I said thy maker? Listen to this, Henry Sword is
the wife, the bride. Thy maker is thy husband. You
have nothing to worry about. You've never provided for yourself
and your strength is in him. He's your strength. You'll never
lose it. You understand that? Thy maker is thy husband. Blessed is that person in whose
heart are the ways of those that dwell in in God's house, God's
people, the ways. It says ways, doesn't it? That's
what it means. Christ is the way, and we're conformed to his
image, predestined to be conformed to his image, and whose heart
are the ways of those that dwell in God's house. A family—let
me illustrate this. A family dwells in the same house
as God's people do, dwell in Christ, in him. A family shares
the same things. same family and a house shares
all the same thing. Same food, same shelter, same
protection, same, I hear the same instructions, right? A family. All God's children
dwell in the same house and they receive the same thing. They
have the same family traits. Ways, that is, the same ways.
Now, whether you like it or not, You are your mother. You are. Did you ever pick on
Margaret Day? Did you finally wake up one day
and say, I have become my mother? You do, don't you? Every one
of you, don't you? At first, you think, I want to
be my own man, you know, my own woman or what, don't you? You
think, oh, I'm unique. Yeah, right. And then finally one day you
get to a certain age and you say, you might say, oh no, I
have become my father or my mother, depending on what they were like.
It's just so, there's nothing you can do about it. There's
nothing you can do about it. It's in your blood. They call
it genes. It's there, isn't it? Oh, aren't
you glad? Aren't you glad we've been predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Christ, huh? Aren't you glad?
There's nothing you can do about it. I wouldn't change a thing. The world hates predestination.
I love it. I love it. Predestined to be conformed to
the image of Christ. Until you wake up one day in
glory and say, I'm Him. Praise God, I have become And, you know, it's not only
inherent, it's not only in your blood, but it's acquired. It's
an acquired, you have acquired traits, but you look at a person.
You watch your dad, you watch your mom. Parents, these kids,
boy, they're watching you. You may not think they are, they're
watching you. They're listening to you. And
you will find out, you have found out, that they come up with,
say things that you wish they hadn't been listening to. But
it's so, you know, so with God's people. Yeah, it is. It sure
is. Acquired traits. My oldest brother
was just my hero growing up. My hero. Everything about him.
I wanted to be just like him. And he had this certain little
strange physical trait that he would do. And I watched him. And I would emulate that as a
boy. The way he sat, and I'd sit that
exact same way. I'd make myself do it. I wanted
to be like him. Understand? Well, I find myself
now, I don't even think about it. I just do it. When I sit
down, I sit a certain way. Just like he did. And I've looked
down before. Well, that's the way, that's
what Robin did. And that's the way that God's people are required
to sit. It's a good habit right here
to be in. It's inherent, it's also acquired. And emulation
is the sincerest form of flattery. And Christ said, put on a new
man, put him on. Put him on. Put on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make no provision for the flexible. Put him on.
Put it on. Put on. That's what he said.
It's a good acquired habit. Well, that's the ways of them. That's the ways of them. Verse
six, who? Now here it is, this was really
my text. Who passing through the valley
of Baca, make it a well. The rain also filleth the pools. Passing through the valley of
Baca. Now, the tabernacle was in one place. All the Israelites and strangers,
whoever wanted to go to worship God, they had to go there. Wherever
it was at that time. They had to go there, had to
get there. Had to make a pilgrimage. Some of them had to travel a
long way, a long way to get there. But certain times of the year,
you know, at certain feasts and so forth, and they had to make
a pilgrimage. They had to gather up. They had
to quit everything they were doing. put aside everything they
were doing, leave everyone and everything and make this pilgrimage,
this journey to where the tabernacle was. Are you with me? All right. And many had to pass
through this valley called Baca. In order to get to Jerusalem,
many had to go through this place called Baca's Valley, Vail of
Tears, Valley of Tears. That's what it's called. It was
a difficult valley and it was made worse by certain times of
year they would go through it would be hot it would be dry
it would be arid it would be just almost unbearable. It would be almost well they
just had the most difficult time going through this valley. Sometimes hot sometimes dry sometimes
extremely tough. And since so many people traveled
this way though it was a very well traveled path and so many
traveled this way to get to to where the tabernacle was some
loving and thoughtful pilgrims. Knowing that it would be hot
and dry at certain times they would dig wells. They would dig
wells along the way in that valley for the pilgrims to stop and
refresh themselves. And so traveling on this pilgrimage
through this valley of tears through this hot and dry place
difficult sojourning pilgrimage to where the tabernacle was and
they would become parched and dry and and just don't know if
I can make a more final turn back now there's a way. Somebody in mercy and in love
to the pilgrims dug away. Oh, my, my, my, my. All of God's
people are called strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, sojourning. We have here no continuing city,
but we look for one who's builder and maker is God, a tabernacle
where God dwells with man forever. We're going there. We're marching
to Zion, you say. Well, we've got to go through,
Nancy, we've got to go through this veil of tears, this valley of the
shadow of death. In this world, you shall have
tribulation. See, unlike this one, every one of God's people
has to go through this valley. The valley of the shadow of death,
hot and dry and thirsty land. Over in Psalm 90, he says, oh,
there's labor and sorrow. But God, in mercy and in love
to his pilgrims, doth away. which is Christ himself. He said,
I am the water of life. You're going to make it. In this
world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I'm the
well. I'm the well. Christ is the wellspring, the
water of life, shadow of a rock in a weary land. And his body, his church, The
place where Christ is is an oasis, isn't it? It's an oasis in the
wilderness for hot, dry, and thirsty pilgrims to come. And that's where Christ the whale
himself is found. If they can just drink to their
fullest, they're going to need it because they're going to go
back out into that valley. They're going to go back in that
valley. Well, he said, so that's the Valley of Baca and make it
a well. And the rain also filleth the
pools, the rain. Also it comes, rain. Sometimes
during those long journeys and through the hot and dry lands,
oh, blessed showers of blessings would fall. They'd think, I can't
find a well. And the blessing, the rain would
follow, just fill up. Rains over there, it just didn't
pitter-patter. It becomes a gusher. And fill
up the pools. How does rain make you feel?
I thought about this. The other day, it was a rainy
day. In order for it to be raining, pretty much, the sun is obscured,
isn't it? It's a cloudy day. Always. Nearly always. Except those Glorious
days when the sun is shining and raining. Is there a prettier
sight in all of God's creation than that? Well, anyway, most
of the time when it's raining, it's cloudy. And how does it
make you feel? How does rain make you feel?
Be honest. Does it make you feel depressed sometimes? Come on.
It does me. I'd much rather have a sunshiny
day. Much rather. We were coming home yesterday.
It was kind of dark and dreary and getting cold out, and I said,
I wish it was spring. Man, they said, well, it ain't
winter yet. No, I don't care. I still wish
it was spring. I know why people go to Florida
now when they get old. I just don't like cold. I don't
like clouds. The other day, it was real. Cloudy
and it made me feel despondent it made me feel depressed it
made me feel dreary. Does it make me feel dreary something
comes over you. Why am I depressed. And you know most people complain
about the rain. Weather meteorologist they you
know they're always apologizing for the rain. That's incredible and. And it's
incredible, really, that we should become despondent and depressed
because it's water of life. Life on this planet could not
continue without rain. It fills the pools. You have
a well, don't you, by the way? If it quit raining, buddy, it's dry up. Rain, you see, your well
doesn't come from river or whatever that is. It comes from rain.
Rainwater, groundwater, soaks in, fills up that pool down there
that you get your water from. And, well, you say, well, I've
got city water. Well, Roanoke found out about
that, didn't they? Quit raining. Where does rain come from? All this water of life, the blessing
of all blessings, no life could do without it, just freely falls
down. I'd rather make us dreary than
give us cause for rejoicing. Fills up the cisterns, fills
up the ground wells. Rain also causes the creeks and
streams to run into the rivers, which some do get their water
from, and the ponds and the lakes and so forth. Fills up the reservoirs. Rain is a great undeserved blessing
from God. But as I said, it all comes from
black clouds. Now listen carefully. Go on through
this psalm. And that's tough enough. Then
a big black cloud comes over. It can't get any worse. Hold on now. Just wait. Ye fearful saints. Fresh courage
take. The clouds, you so much dread. And we all do. Oh, don't let
anything happen. Don't let that. Something's going
to happen. The clouds. You so much dread, those black
clouds are full of mercy and shall break with blessings on
your head. Behind every cloud is a silver
lining. What comes from a black cloud?
Rain. Fills the pool. My, my. So here's the picture,
all right? Here's the picture. It says in
verse 7, they go from strength to strength. Every one of them
in Zion appeareth before God. Did you read that with me? Read
it again. Verse 7. I don't want to slight any verse.
They go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. Here's this vast pilgrimage.
A bunch of people traveling. Okay, there's enough water in
that well to meet everybody. Anyway, this vast pilgrimage,
these people all travel the same road. They all travel the same
road and whole families would go, whole families, old, young,
male, female. weak, strong, whole families
would travel together, go through all the same hardships together,
go through all the same trials together, and they would help
each other. Didn't notice it says, company to company, strength
to strength. They would help each other along
this pilgrimage, along this way. They'd all find their strength
in Him. That's why they're on this road.
They'd all find their water and help along the way
in that well. They'd all find it in all the
rain and all. They're all going through there,
but they all were helping each other on the way. They all were
exhorting each other so much more as they saw that tabernacle
approaching, or rather as they were approaching it. Marching
to Zion, you see, all of them along the way. Some of them wanted
to quit. No, Junior. No, no, no, no. You're
coming with us. No, honey, come on now. I can't
make it. Come on, come on, come on. Passing through and often passing
through, you know, they come across fellow pilgrims. At the
well. That says a meeting place, you
say, the well. They come to the well and they'd
stop and they'd talk to these fellow pilgrims. And what do you think they talk
about? What do you think their conversation was? They might
have a little chit chat here and there with the kids and all
that, but they were talking about Zion. They were talking about
where they were going. Talking about where they were going.
Well, they'd go through and they'd strengthen each other, he said.
Strengthen, strengthen, company, company. Iron face to face. Iron sharper than fire. And they
would exhort each other and encourage one another. Let's keep going. Keep going. Here's an old man. Listen to this. Here's an old
man passing through. I mean, an old man. Somebody
says, how long have you been doing that? All my life. All my life. How old are you? I'm 80 some years old. And you're
going to go all the way to design again? Yeah. I'd faint without
it. Can't do without it. And so here's
a young person that says, Well, you know, if he can make it. If he'd been doing this all his
life, I just might tell you. And strengthen each other. Strengthen
each other. Until it says, bless God Almighty,
until it says, until every one of them. Did you catch that? until every one of them in Zion,
that is in the church, in Jerusalem, all God's people, all his elect,
till, somebody's not hearing this, Samuel, you know, every
one of them appeareth before God. Every one of them. Every single pilgrim
that walks that road. Every single pilgrim that goes
through the Valley of Baca. Every single one of them. And
there's nothing that hath betaken you, but such is common to man.
And every pilgrim, every believer, everyone who's found their strength
in him, everyone who's looked to Christ, everyone, little,
big, strong, weak, every one of them, appeareth before God. They're all there. Not one fell
along the wayside. Not one was too weak. Not one
died of thirst. Not one. Did you hear this? Every one of them. Christ, the one that dove the
well. Christ, the one to whom we look for strength. Christ,
the one who really carries us. Christ, the path we trod. Christ,
the tabernacle. Christ said, Behold, I and the
children that thou hast given me. Of those which thou hast given
me, I have lost Everyone. Oh, how amiable are that type
of. This is where you start to build,
you say this is where you start. A young believer comes in. Don't
even know there doesn't even know there is a pilgrim. So they
know there is a God, I say young believer, I mean, someone who
has never heard God brings them. They don't even know there is
a God. They don't know what He's like or anything. They don't know
Christ. They don't see a need of Christ. They don't know what
they are, blind, deaf, dumb, dead, you know, and so forth.
And God chose them. God who had elected them. God
who predestinated them. God who brought them. And God
taught him and gave him life and all of this, and then he
sets them in the paths of righteousness, sets them on this pilgrim road,
sets them marching to Zion. But he does not say, boy, it's
going to be smooth from here on out. That's what false prophets
say. That's what false preachers say. Oh, your troubles are over.
No, on the contrary, the Lord Jesus Christ said, your troubles
have just begun. In this world you shall have
nothing but trouble. Man is born, a woman is a few
days. You don't have long here. You
don't want to stay here. No, I'm taking you out of here.
And you're going to be full of trouble. But be of good cheer. There's a whole bunch just like
you. A whole bunch has gone this same way. A whole bunch who started
out and nothing but trouble started. Be of good cheer. There's a well
on the way. There's a shower coming behind
the cloud. And everyone Look to Christ. Everyone. Next. He's promised you strength
from death. He promised you. I've given you
a people to undergird you and help you along the way. Everyone. Passing through the valley of
makeup. That's what that means. The valley of tears. And our God said, Now you get
through this valley of Baca. I'll bring you through this and
there'll be no more tears. No more valleys of Baca to pass
through. No, no. Promised land. Land flowing with
milk and honey. And then the last part of this
ends with a prayer. You noticed it. Oh, Lord God
of hope, hear my prayer. Here I am, a pilgrim. Listen,
what Lord would you give here? Oh, God of Jacob. You never get
tired of hearing that, Jacob. You ever get tired of hearing
about old Jacob? Oh, happy is he that the God of Jacob, for
he said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not going to fail, not going to fall, not going to be consumed.
Hey, sons of Jacob, Jacob have I loved. Oh, Jacob, Blessed is
he that the God of Jacob. Happy. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, O God, our shield. As I keep telling us, and me,
us, we don't, we're not protecting ourselves. We're not protecting
our young. We're not doing anything. People, we're not doing anything.
God is our shield. God is our shield. Trust Him.
Trust Him. Young and old alike. Keep exhorting
his young parents to trust him. Well, I'm an old parent, and
I still worry, but I need to trust him. It's our shield. He said, nothing can befall you
but what I say. Nothing! A thousand fall at your
right side, ten thousand at your right. It'll not come down to
you. If it does come down to you, I'll put it there, and there's
nothing you can do about it. Don't worry! Be still. Know that I'm God. Trust in me. Trust! Trust! You'll be full
of depression, anxiety, fear. Fear of man brings a snare. Fear
of the Lord brings peace. Our God's a shield. And verse nine, oh my, look upon
the face of thine anointed. Folks, he does. He does. Who's
the anointed? You know the word Christ means
anointed. the anointed one. The Lord beholds
me in him, as he is. Does God love Christ? Oh, oh. If I'm in Christ, he loves me.
Does Christ dwell with the Father
now forevermore, ever live, and ever dwell? Yeah. Christ said,
I'm already there, seated. I said I'm going to that's Christ
that's us Holy Spirit anointed and. Oh my look upon us in mercy
and grace and favor and the day in my courts is better than a
thousand. What I can say about this. What about you what could
you say. What could you say about. That. Right now this what we've done
today this day in which the Lord has made. day in my court that's
what we've done we've spent a day well we had been through our. What do you think about. Where would you have rather be.
Would you rather spend a thousand. Doing whatever or is this one
better than a thousand. Is it really I mean really. He
says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to
dwell in the lavish places of wickedness. I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in God's house. What a high honor, a great privilege
to do something, anything in God's circle. Anything. A doorkeeper. David's king. And he says, I'd rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of God than to be among the rich and
famous and well-known and so forth, have all these people. What a high honor and a great
privilege to do something, anything in the service of God's house.
That's what he's saying. To be a janitor in God's house
is a greater blessing. and a higher honor from God Almighty,
yes, to be a janitor, which the world says that's about as low
as you can get. Well, is it? Yes, that's about as low as you
can get. Well, let me tell you something, what God says about
as low as you can get. Let me tell you what God says
about that. He is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. I wouldn't surprise me a bit
if the majority of people in heaven were janitors on this
earth. How many? Waitresses. How many wise, mighty, and noble
are called? It's the greatest honor conferred
on a human being by God Almighty to be a janitor in God's house
than the CEO of IBM. I'm telling you the truth, Kevin. Vicki, it's what Christ said. Ah, but nobody noticed. That's not why you're doing it. I'll tell you who is. I'll tell
you who you're working for. Huh? How God sees me, everything
about me, my goings, my downs, my upright. And that glad and
thankful heart and that privilege and honored, highly honored son. Thank you, Lord. Though Tom Harding,
he's faithful in a few things, the Lord shall make him good
in many. Brother Tom Harding was the most faithful janitor
that the church has ever known, ever. I've never seen a man as
diligent and conscientious about cleaning the church building.
Kevin, you're just like that. But that man, honestly, he went
above and beyond the call of duty, just early and late, just
you name it, he was always there. Without being asked to, he was
considered a high-honored person. I'd rather be a treasurer, better
to be a treasurer in God's house than the Secretary of the Treasury
of the United States of America. A whole lot better. High honor. Though the whole world knows
her name, God doesn't. And though nobody in the world
knows Sherry Anderson, God's people do, but more importantly,
God does. And her playing is infinitely
more beautiful to the ears of God than that first chair pianist. I'm telling you the truth. That's
an absolute noise in the ears of God Almighty. That woman playing
fall asleep is a noise to God's noise. Even the plowing of the
wicked is evil on God's side. That's right. That's right. And
the pluckings with one hand of a believer of rock of ages is
that the saints and glory are singing along. I'll tell you the truth. I'd
rather be a doorkeeper. I'd rather be anything. server. I can't do anything.
That's what Burgie used to say all the time. Burgie used to
say that, didn't you? Didn't you, people? All the time. I
always said that. I can't do nothing. That woman...